Stirrup for riding-saddles



FFICE.

RICHARD TRUSSELL, OF BROOKLYN, NEXV YORK.

STIRRUP FOR RIDING-SADDLES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 16,032, dated November 4, 1856.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD TRUssELL, of the eastern district of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Stirrups; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Y Figure l, is a central section of a stirrup with my improvement and Fig. 2, a front view of the same.

Similar' letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

The object of this invention is to afford greater safety to equestrians in case of their' losing their seats, or being thrown, by causing the easy disengagement of the feet from the stirrups.

To enable others to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, is the bow of the stirrup which is made separate from the foot-piece B, but of the same form as that of a common stirrup. The foot piece B, is made long enough to support the foot of the rider from the ball to the extremity of the toe and is provided with a raised toe-piece b. It is jointed near its rear extremity to the bow A, by means of a transverse shaft or pivot C, which lits loosely to bearings a, a, secured to its under side and has its ends secured to the extremities of the bow. This mode of attachment allows` the foot piece a swinging movement of the bow, but such movement is limited by pins c and (Z, secured to the bow below the foot piece so as not to allow the front extremity or toe of the foot piece to descend beyond that position in which the foot piece stands square with the bow, like that of a common stirrup, as indicated in black outline in Fig. l, but to allow the toe to rise till the foot piece stands at a very considerable inclination, say 45, to the bow, as shown in Fig. l, in red outline. A spring e, secured to the shaft C, presses under the foot piece in such a manner as to exert a tendency to throw the toe upward to the last namedv position.

lVhen the rider places his foot in the stirrup and presses on the foot piece, the pres sure being greatset in front of the shaft C, presses down the toe piece until the foot piece comes to a bearing on the pin c, and assumes Vthe position shown in black outline in Fig. l. The toe piece is intended to stand up so high and so far above the riders foot as to prevent the possibility of its slipping so far through the stirrup as to bring the ball of the foot beyond or through the bow; this being the case, the disengagement of the foot from or throwing it out of the stirrup is effected without difficulty by the rising of the toe of the foot-piece to the position shown in red outline. If t-he rider should be thrown or lose his seat by accident or wish to throw himself from his horse, the foot piece, on being relieved of the pressure of the foot will assume the last-named position and by that means, the stirrup disengages itself or causes the foot to be disengaged from it.

This stirrup is applicable to ladies as well as to mens saddles.

I do not claim the toe piece as I am awa-re that a toe piece has been used on a foot-.piece attached rigidly to the bow of the stirrup, but in combination with the use of the toe-piece or its equivalent.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

The attachment of the foot piece B, to the bow A, of the stirrup by a shaft C, or other connection of similar character furnished with a spring c, to operate in the manner substantially as herein set forth.

RICHARD TRUSSELL.

Witnesses z HENRY T. BRowN, W. TUsoH. 

